Apple Pay a hit in China with 3 million cards added in 2 days
Chinese consumers have flocked to Apple's contactless payment solution in the weeks since its debut, with one bank reporting that more than 3 million cards were activated on Apple Pay in the first 2 days of availability.
The activation figures come via China Merchants Bank, one of the country's largest financial institutions. Its customers were responsible for approximately 1 million activations -- around one third of the total.
"I would rate our first-day performance as 1,000, if the full score is 100," Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey told Chinese press, as noted by Internet Retailer.
The biggest beneficiaries of Apple Pay's launch were said to be Groupon competitors Meituan and Dianping, Starbucks, convenience store chain FamilyMart, and McDonald's.
On average, Apple Pay users in China spent just over $15 each during the launch period. One web-based retailer booked more than 10,000 Apple Pay orders.
In all, nearly 20 banks representing 80 percent of UnionPay cards issued in China are on board with Apple Pay.
The activation figures come via China Merchants Bank, one of the country's largest financial institutions. Its customers were responsible for approximately 1 million activations -- around one third of the total.
"I would rate our first-day performance as 1,000, if the full score is 100," Apple Pay chief Jennifer Bailey told Chinese press, as noted by Internet Retailer.
The biggest beneficiaries of Apple Pay's launch were said to be Groupon competitors Meituan and Dianping, Starbucks, convenience store chain FamilyMart, and McDonald's.
On average, Apple Pay users in China spent just over $15 each during the launch period. One web-based retailer booked more than 10,000 Apple Pay orders.
In all, nearly 20 banks representing 80 percent of UnionPay cards issued in China are on board with Apple Pay.
Comments
Apple Pay, or rather devicePay, us the future. Apple Pay has been a remarkable success in the short time since its launch 1.5 years ago.
I wish the banks would also push Apple Pay—and other similar services that use the bank-controlled setup of per-device card number alias—by giving retailers a transaction discount because it's nearly impossible to be used for fraud unless you have access to personal information about the card or device owner. This would also have the benefit of increasing the timeframe for a "minimum level of acceptance" that would cause people to leave the house with no physical cards on them, which is the threshold for when the benefits of Apple Pay will be truly recognized in society.
Totally agree, and it's disgusting. I personally will never, ever use a digital payment system other than Apple Pay because it's a system designed to benefit the consumer.
Nobody is saying is that you have to leave your wallet at home in order to use/benefit from Apple Pay. But if a store does accept Apple Pay I'm automatically using it as it is much safer and more efficient than using credit cards.